The striking use of makore wood addressed several designissues. Architect Adolfo Perez’s clients like red, which ledto the reddish-brown stain on the exterior shingles. Tolink the outside to the inside, and to make entering thehouse a memorable experience, Perez lined the mostimportant public spaces — foyer, gallery hall, and bothstaircases — with wood instead of plaster. Rather thanusing cherry or redwood, he tracked down the more exoticAfrican makore, whose warm red tones are accentuatedand evened out by a toned polyurethane finish. Before thewood was milled into 6-inch-by-8-foot planks by RhodeIsland cabinetmakers Herrick & White, Perez visited J.Gibson McIlvain Company, the Connecticut supplier thatstocked it, to check for consistency and quality. Thestrong horizontals of the shiplapping guide the eye deeperinto the house for a welcoming effect.design decisionsExotic Makore

simply followed the direction set by Perez’s design; in fact, the
furnishings and fabrics interact with the interior spaces with
nuance and assurance.

Off the gallery, on the center axis of the house’s symmetrical floor plan, is the big room the wife requested. A tour de
force of architecture and decoration, the space encompasses
a striking L-shaped kitchen with custom eucalyptus cabinetry
and Verde Fuoco granite countertops, a central dining table
with a stainless steel base (designed by Perez) illuminated by
an alabaster-and-mica chandelier by Pagani Studio, and a living room with a 1970s-inspired lacquer coffee table (designed
by Duffy) and a fireplace wall of rain-forest-green granite. The
whole is washed with natural light from twin skylights.

The kitchen’s configuration was one of the few areas
where client and architect disagreed. Perez wanted to pierce
the L with a doorway for easy access from the garage and
foyer; the wife wanted a more sequestered place in which to
cook. She “won,” with Perez cheerfully acknowledging that
he erred on the side of convenience. “I realized I was pushing
for something that would have saved maybe 10 extra paces,”
he says. “It’s much better this way.”

A media room, office, and laundry occupy the rear wing,
while two matching staircases lead to the second floor from
either end of the gallery. Upstairs, the master suite overlooks
the backyard on one side and opens to a large outdoor deck
on the other. The bedroom is notable for its modest size. “Less
bedroom, more closet,” says Perez.

The second-floor rooms — master suite, two guest suites,
the husband’s office, and the wife’s art studio — are connected
by the striking walkway that overlooks the gallery
and a bank of clerestory windows. The openness
of the design yields constantly changing vistas
of and through the building, and one always
has a strong and comforting sense of where in

the house one is.

Well built, well sited, not too big, and impeccably styled,
this new house has moved into its traditional neighborhood
with just the right attitude. Think of it as “comfortably nonconformist.”